The Great Jug Jug Blow-Back
If you're a longtime reader you may remember jug jug ... It's the beloved Christmas dish served in Barbados. So beloved, in fact, that woe be to any blogger who gets it wrong.
Which brings me to my next point, the recipe I originally used. Now, all the jug jug related hate mail I've received was aimed directly at me, as if I'd somehow devised an evil version of jug jug out of my cruel and sadistic imagination, just for the sole purpose of giving jug jug and Barbados a bad name. So I feel I must point out that the recipe I used came from what I believed to be an authentic Bajan source, and I followed all the directions faithfully and used all the required ingredients, right down to the cassava flour (instead of guinea flour) that that particular recipe gave me permission to use as a substitute. Here's the original recipe, and as you can see it is pretty significantly different from the version sent to me by my reader, which is as follows:
Jug Jug
- 4 cups water
- 8 pints green pigeon peas
- 1/2 lb salt meat, soaked
- 1/2 lb pork, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1/4 lb green seasoning (see below)
- 3 springs fresh thyme
- 3 stems fresh marjoram
- 1 cup guinea corn flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp butter
Lady Jane's Perfect Pinch
(From Lady Jane)
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped fine
- 1 habanero pepper
- 1 small bunch parsley
- 1 small bunch dill
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig marjoram
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 small onion, grated
- Lime juice to taste
- Splash of vinegar
- Pinch of salt and pepper
First boil your pigeon peas until soft. I had some canned peas so I got to skip that step. Now, you're meant to reserve the cooking water but I just substituted the liquid from the can.
Cut up the salt meat into bite-sized pieces and fry with the pork pieces. Add the perfect pinch seasoning, the habanero, herbs and the reserved water.
Now fish the meat out of the water, put it in a food processor with the peas and grind it all up together. Meanwhile, add the guinea flour to the water and cook until you get a nice porridge-like consistency. Add a little bit of water as needed if the mixture is too thick.
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